Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Xin chao (hello in vietnamese)

Let me preface this next post by asking if you've ever seen a stranger in public listening to their ipod and they're subconsciously singing along? When I'm sitting on my front porch I see it all the time, and I giggle each time.

I was updating my ipod yesterday when I stumbled upon a podcast that teaches basic Vietnamese phrases. There are 8 lessons in the podcast so far, and it looks like they are updating it regularly. I uploaded the podcast and decided to listen to it while I took Lola for a walk this morning. So at 6am, you can hear a pin drop on my street, and here I am trying to say thank you in Vietnamese - Cam on, which sounds like cahm un. Try saying that out loud right now, go ahead. You probably felt silly just saying that in the privacy of your own living room, now picture a girl saying that to her dog repeatedly, at 6am while she's walking down the middle of the street. I think from now on, Marc and I will listen to our podcast together and practice in the privacy of our own home. And if you're interested in learning how to speak Vietnamese, check out the podcast, it's called "Survivalphrases - Vietnamese" and can be found on itunes.

Now I bet you're all wondering about that form I've been checking my mailbox for EVERYDAY. I'm sure you'll be disappointed to learn that we still don't have it! I have been calling USCIS all week to find out where my I171-H is and now I'm convinced the entire office has gone on vacation because no one is answering when I call!! We have had our entire dossier complete for weeks now, and this one form is the only thing keeping us from being put on our agencies official waiting list. Patience is a virtue, I know.

Xin chao (hello in vietnamese)

Let me preface this next post by asking if you've ever seen a stranger in public listening to their ipod and they're subconsciously singing along? When I'm sitting on my front porch I see it all the time, and I giggle each time.

I was updating my ipod yesterday when I stumbled upon a podcast that teaches basic Vietnamese phrases. There are 8 lessons in the podcast so far, and it looks like they are updating it regularly. I uploaded the podcast and decided to listen to it while I took Lola for a walk this morning. So at 6am, you can hear a pin drop on my street, and here I am trying to say thank you in Vietnamese - Cam on, which sounds like cahm un. Try saying that out loud right now, go ahead. You probably felt silly just saying that in the privacy of your own living room, now picture a girl saying that to her dog repeatedly, at 6am while she's walking down the middle of the street. I think from now on, Marc and I will listen to our podcast together and practice in the privacy of our own home. And if you're interested in learning how to speak Vietnamese, check out the podcast, it's called "Survivalphrases - Vietnamese" and can be found on itunes.

Now I bet you're all wondering about that form I've been checking my mailbox for EVERYDAY. I'm sure you'll be disappointed to learn that we still don't have it! I have been calling USCIS all week to find out where my I171-H is and now I'm convinced the entire office has gone on vacation because no one is answering when I call!! We have had our entire dossier complete for weeks now, and this one form is the only thing keeping us from being put on our agencies official waiting list. Patience is a virtue, I know.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Fire drills and more

Our social worker called this week with a few questions for some paperwork that is required by our agency. Some examples of these questions are:

Do you have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen? Yes.
Do you inspect the fire extinguisher at least once every 6 months? Um, no.
Does your family have an evacuation plan? Um, no.
Does your family practice regular fire drills? What?! Are you serious?!

Emily over at Looking for Lulu finally received a referral for her little girl after 14 long months of waiting. Congratulations!!!

And if you get a chance, check out this week's NPR series titled, Adoption in America.

Fire drills and more

Our social worker called this week with a few questions for some paperwork that is required by our agency. Some examples of these questions are:

Do you have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen? Yes.
Do you inspect the fire extinguisher at least once every 6 months? Um, no.
Does your family have an evacuation plan? Um, no.
Does your family practice regular fire drills? What?! Are you serious?!

Emily over at Looking for Lulu finally received a referral for her little girl after 14 long months of waiting. Congratulations!!!

And if you get a chance, check out this week's NPR series titled, Adoption in America.

Monday, July 23, 2007

USCIS takes a vacation

I got our mail today and was excited to see an envelope from USCIS, but unfortunately it was not the I171-H. No, instead it was a receipt stating that they have received our I600-A (which is the application for the I171-H), which we gave them over a month ago!!!! So I immediately called the number on the receipt and they said that the hold up is due to people going on vacation. The nerve of these people taking vacations!!! She told me to call back in a couple of days and she should have an update as to the status by then. I guess this means I can take a few days off from stalking the mailman.

USCIS takes a vacation

I got our mail today and was excited to see an envelope from USCIS, but unfortunately it was not the I171-H. No, instead it was a receipt stating that they have received our I600-A (which is the application for the I171-H), which we gave them over a month ago!!!! So I immediately called the number on the receipt and they said that the hold up is due to people going on vacation. The nerve of these people taking vacations!!! She told me to call back in a couple of days and she should have an update as to the status by then. I guess this means I can take a few days off from stalking the mailman.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Adventures in blogging

After months of reading adoption blogs like it's my job, I've decided to enter the world of blogging myself. I've learned so much about international adoption through reading blogs and now I hope that someone can learn about adoption through mine, too! I also thought friends and family would be interested in the updates of our adoption.

So according to the ticker at the bottom of the page, we have been working on our adoption for 2.5 months, which is hard for me to believe, because it feels like we have been in this process for at least 6 months (which should give you a little insight as to how patient I am). Over the past 2.5 months, we have successfully: applied to an agency, completed our homestudy, found out some interesting facts about our agency, switched to a very small agency in a far-away state, completed tons of new paperwork for new agency, applied to immigration, and most recently have been working on compiling our dossier (for those of you who are unfamiliar with adoption lingo, a dossier is a fancy word for more paperwork).

Right now we are patiently awaiting the arrival of the coveted I171-H from USCIS. Our mail has been on hold for a week while we were at the beach, but I told Marc to make sure it's scheduled to be delivered on Saturday (as in yesterday). Yesterday I was itching to get home from the beach (even though the weather was beautiful) because I was really hoping for it to be in the mail. As soon as we pulled into the driveway I ran to the mailbox, which was empty. Empty?!?! After a few words of profanity, I check online only to discover that someone scheduled the next delivery date for next Saturday. So tomorrow morning I will be going to the post office, with the hopes that our document will be there!!!

Adventures in blogging

After months of reading adoption blogs like it's my job, I've decided to enter the world of blogging myself. I've learned so much about international adoption through reading blogs and now I hope that someone can learn about adoption through mine, too! I also thought friends and family would be interested in the updates of our adoption.

So according to the ticker at the bottom of the page, we have been working on our adoption for 2.5 months, which is hard for me to believe, because it feels like we have been in this process for at least 6 months (which should give you a little insight as to how patient I am). Over the past 2.5 months, we have successfully: applied to an agency, completed our homestudy, found out some interesting facts about our agency, switched to a very small agency in a far-away state, completed tons of new paperwork for new agency, applied to immigration, and most recently have been working on compiling our dossier (for those of you who are unfamiliar with adoption lingo, a dossier is a fancy word for more paperwork).

Right now we are patiently awaiting the arrival of the coveted I171-H from USCIS. Our mail has been on hold for a week while we were at the beach, but I told Marc to make sure it's scheduled to be delivered on Saturday (as in yesterday). Yesterday I was itching to get home from the beach (even though the weather was beautiful) because I was really hoping for it to be in the mail. As soon as we pulled into the driveway I ran to the mailbox, which was empty. Empty?!?! After a few words of profanity, I check online only to discover that someone scheduled the next delivery date for next Saturday. So tomorrow morning I will be going to the post office, with the hopes that our document will be there!!!
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